The Long Ships
Encyclopedia
The Long Ships or Red Orm (original Swedish Röde Orm) is a best-selling Swedish
novel written by Frans Gunnar Bengtsson
(1894–1954). The novel is divided into two parts, published in 1941 and 1945, with two books each.
It is one of the most widely read books in Sweden, topping the charts of most loaned books at Swedish libraries for many years. The first part was translated to English by Barrows Mussey as Red Orm in 1943, but later editions and newer translations by Michael Meyer
use the title The Long Ships.
The book has been translated into at least 23 languages: Afrikaans
, Croatian
, Czech
, Danish
, Dutch
, English, Esperanto
, Estonian
, Faroese
, Finnish
, French
, German
, Hungarian
, Icelandic
, Italian
, Japanese
, Latvian
, Lithuanian
, Norwegian
, Polish
, Romanian
, Russian
, Slovenian
, Vietnamese
.
The language of the novel is modeled on the Norse saga
s, making the best of its faculties for wisecracks and comic understatements, and historic names, people and events are woven into the fiction. Like the sagas, the book relies on verbs and nouns to drive the narrative, with only a minimum of adjectives and descriptive passages. In the Swedish original, the grammar is deliberately slightly archaic. Bengtsson might also have had some influence from Eric Linklater
's The Men of Ness, which book he had translated into Swedish in 1933.
The Swedish writer Sven Stolpe
reports that somebody asked author Bengtsson "what intentions he had with The Long Ships." To which Bengtsson responded that he had no particular intentions. "I just wanted to write a story that people could enjoy reading, like The Three Musketeers
or the Odyssey
."
The 1963 Anglo
-Yugoslavia
n movie The Long Ships
is loosely based on the book.
. The story portrays the political situation of Europe in the later Viking Age
, Andalusia
under Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir
, Denmark
under Harold Bluetooth, followed by the struggle between Eric the Victorious and Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark
, Ireland
under Brian Boru
, England under Ethelred the Unready
, the Battle of Maldon
, all before the backdrop of the gradual Christianisation of Scandinavia, contrasting the pragmatic Norse pagan
outlook with the exclusiveness of Islam
and Christianity
.
The first book covers the years 982 to 990. While still a youth, Orm is taken captive by a Viking
party raiding the sheepfold of his father's farm in Skåne after an unprofitable campaign among the Wends
. The party consists of three ships, some 180 men, led by Krok. Orm is accepted as a crew member and makes a lifelong friend of Toke Greygullson. They sail south, along the coast of the Frankish Empire
. During an encounter with a party of Danes from Jutland
, they collect an escaped prisoner, Solomon, an Andalusian Jew. Solomon guides them to the castle of the Castilian
Margrave who had betrayed him. The Vikings sack the castle and take the spoils to the ships, Solomon returning to his own land. As they sail off, they are attacked and defeated by an Andalusian fleet, and Orm together with Krok and seven others are captured and made slaves.
They serve as galley slaves for more than two years, during which time Orm becomes left-handed (due to his position on the rowing bench), and Krok dies killing their hated supervisor. Thanks to the intervention of Solomon, the surviving eight Norsemen are made members of the slave-bodyguard of Al-Mansur
. They nominally convert to Islam and take part in Al-Mansur's campaigns in the Marca Hispanica
for four years. Raiding Iria Flavia
, the burial place of St. James
, Al-Mansur charges the Norsemen with shipping a captured bell of the Christian church back to Cordova
. On their way back, they encounter and slay the killers of Krok, and are forced to flee Andalusia, taking the bell with them. They cross to Ireland
, and learning that Brian Boru
has gained the upper hand over the Norse there, continue directly to the court of Harold Bluetooth.
Harald has recently converted to Christianity, and they present him with the bell of St. James, upon which Harald invites them to celebrate Yule
with him. Both Orm and Toke are wounded in duel
s during Yule. After convalescence, during which he meets Ylva, daughter of Harold, and presents her with a golden necklace given to him by Al-Mansur, Orm returns to Skåne. Toke runs off with an Andalusian slave-concubine of Harald's and continues back home to Blekinge
. The one-eyed Rapp, another of Orm's companions from Andalusia, stays with him, being an outlaw in his home district.
Book 2
After King Harald dies in exile, and Styrbjörn the Strong
in the Battle of the Fýrisvellir
(moved to 991 in the book, historically probably taking place a few years before), Orm and Rapp join a Viking party raiding England under Thorkell the High
, participating in the Battle of Maldon
. The Norsemen set siege to the church of Maldon
, and after negotiation with two English bishops agree to accept payment of Danegeld
. The chieftains agree to be baptized, and travel to London for the occasion. Orm, having learned that Harald's daughter Ylva is staying in London, agrees to be baptised, and Poppo, former bishop of Harald, joins them in Christian matrimony. Orm, Ylva, Rapp and the priest Willibald leave London for Denmark, and collect the necklace Ylva had hidden in Jellinge, now Sweyn's stronghold. Sweyn's men discover them, and fleeing, Willibald wounds Sweyn with a stone throw.
Book 3
Fearing Sweyn's revenge, Orm moves to a neglected farm, his mother's inheritance in Göinge
, northern Skåne, near the border with Småland
. During the following years (992 to 995), Orm prospers , and Ylva gives birth to twin girls (Oddny and Ludmilla), a son, Harald, and later to another son, Svarthöfde (Blackhair in the Michael Meyer translation). Orm beats off a treacherous attack sponsored by Sweyn, and Willibald advises against killing the surviving attackers, forcing them to be baptised instead. At the Thing
between the men of Göinge, Värend
and Finnveden
, Orm renews his friendship with Toke, who has gained wealth as a fur trader in Värend. Rainald, a Christian priest who had come to the Thing with Orm to be exchanged for a priest enslaved by the Värenders, disrupts a fertility ceremony, causing the death of a priest of Frey. He is given to the women of Värend as recompense.
Book 4
The year 1000 passes without Christ returning. In 1007, with Orm now forty-two, his brother Are returns from the east, blind, mute and mutilated. He succeeds in telling of his fate with the help of runes
. He had left Skåne in 978 and served in the Varangian guard of Basil II
. Are participated in raid on a Bulgar
castle at the mouths of the Danube
with the aim of capturing the gold treasure of the Bulgar king
. The emperor's treasurer made away with the gold, heading for Kiev
, and Are pursued him. He managed to recapture the gold and hid it in the Dniepr, at the cataracts south of Kiev, but was later caught and mutilated, and with much luck made his way home to Denmark. Orm decides to travel to Kievan Rus for the gold, and together with Toke and the Värend chieftain Olof (who is promised Orm's daughter Ludmilla upon their return) mans a ship. They travel by way of Visby
, reaching the Dniepr via the Daugava and Beresina. They find the treasure, but are attacked by Pechenegs, and Orm's son Svarthöfde is captured. Orm pays a high ransom, but enough of the treasure remains to liberally reward his entire crew. They return to Skåne safely, just four days after Orm's farm has been attacked by outlaws, led by the former priest Rainald, who have abducted Ludmilla and other women. Orm heads a punitive expedition
, the women are freed and Olof slays Rainald. From then on, Orm and Toke live in peace and plenty as good neighbours, and Svarthöfde Ormsson becomes a famous Viking, fighting for Canute the Great
. The story ends with the statement that Orm and Toke in their old age "did never tire of telling of the years when they had rowed the Caliph's ship and served my lord Al-Mansur."
Orm (Orm is the Swedish word for Snake) is the protagonist of the book, the youngest son of a rich and high-born freeholder. He is a descendant of King Ivar Vidfamne
, a fact that he is very proud of. Orm is called "red" for his hair color. At the beginning of book one, he is still in his teens but already strong and dangerous to wrestle with. From the beginning, he shows prowess in battle, and even in his middle age, at the age of 45, he kills two berserks with the handle of a broomstick. He is also clever and resourceful, though a bit of a hypochondriac. His martial prowess is shown in many fight scenes, his astuteness when negotiating for the hand of Ylva in London and also when he participates as one of the judges at the thing
in Göinge. His ability to make friends is demonstrated in many episodes, beginning with the fact that the raiders who take him prisoner at the beginning of the book soon forget that he is a captive and begin to regard him as a comrade. Orm has a sharp mind and adapts easily, even in difficult situations. As a slave on a Moorish galley, he soon learns Arabic, which proves very useful and is one reason why his comrades begin to regard him as their chief after Krok's death. Orm thinks before acting, but when angered he is very dangerous. He has a dry sense of humor and is gifted in poetry.
Odd is Orm's older brother. Odd is squat, tough and deliberate in speech. He loves sailing and pillaging, and during the winters, he pines for the summer, when it will once more be time to go a-viking. Accordingly, he is in a bad mood during that time of year and often bickers with his mother. When Orm comes back home from Spain, he learns that Odd has died on one of his journeys.
Are is Orm's other brother. In his youth, he made two women pregnant while their husbands were away, which caused a great to-do in the neighbourhood and forced his father to pay out sizeable reparations. Many people laughed at him because of that, which made him moody, and finally he killed one man who had jested too much about his dexterity, after which he fled from home and joined men travelling east. He and Orm meet in Book 4, when Are comes back from Constantinople, blind, tongueless and without his right hand. Despite this obstacle, Orm devises a way for them to communicate and Are tells him the secret of Bulgarian Gold.
Orm's two other brothers, who remain unnamed have suffered tragic fates. One died when he tried to ride a bull after having drunk a surfeit of beer and the other was washed overboard during his first Viking voyage.
Toste is Orm's father. He is a wealthy man and a fine sailor, who would rather die fighting, than "die on straw like a dog". He makes regular summer raids to Ireland. Like Odd, he dies before Orm comes back home from Spain.
Åsa is Orm's mother. She is a strong woman and a diligent housekeeper, but has a fierce temper when crossed. Orm is the apple of her eye, and she spoils him, always ensuring that he gets the best food.
Ylva, King Harald Bluetooth's daughter, is a beautiful young woman, merry but also temperamental and argumentative. She falls in love with Orm, and after many complications they get married.
Ludmilla Ormsdotter is one of Orm's twin daughters, both of whom are redhaired like he. Like her mother, she is playful and adventurous.
Oddny Ormsdotter, the other of Orm's twin daughters. She is, unlike her sister, gentle and calm.
Harald, Orm's son, is named after Ylva's father, Harald Bluetooth. He is a quiet, well-behaved boy, more interested in farming than in adventures abroad.
Svarthöfde (Blackhair) is Orm's second son. He goes with Orm to find the Bulgarian Gold. In Book 3 it is implied that Ylva has slept with the renegade Christian priest Rainald, who like Svarthöfde (and Ylva) has black hair, further implying (though never spelled out) that Rainald is the father of Svarthöfde. He is also described as "his parents' most beloved child". (Two additional children are born to Orm and Ylva after him.) When Orm and Olof get their revenge on Rainald, Svarthöfde assists Olof in killing Rainald. We are told that as a grown man, he entered the service of his cousin King Canute and took part in the battle of Holy River
.
Orm's friends
Toke Greygullson is Orm's best friend. He is not only a fearsome fighter but also has a vivid sense of humor. He is a skilled poet. He is very cheerful and never loses his good spirits; even when enslaved on a galley he composes and sings humorous songs. Occasionally he gets into trouble because he has a weak head for drink. Toke is impulsive and sometimes acts without thinking about the consequences, for example when he elopes with one of King Harald Bluetooth's women, an Andalusian girl named Mirah.
One-eyed Rapp is another friend of Orm's. After their adventures in Spain and England, he lives with him in Göinge as a highly capable overseer (as he "with one eye sees more details than other people with two") at his farm. Rapp is a skilled craftsman (especially in carpentry) and a good fighter (his weapon of choice is often an axe), feared by most men. When Orm tells his ship's company in London that they must all be baptised with him, Rapp calmly assents, having already been baptised once.
Krok is the leader of Vikings that sail out in the beginning of Book One, and he is the one who during the sheep-stealing raid in Skåne knocks Orm unconscious and takes him captive, as a replacement for a member of Krok's crew whom Orm has slain. Krok is killed by guards in Malaga while successfully drowning a brutal overseer in a cauldron of boiling tar. Krok is described as being dark-haired, tan, tall and lanky and unusually strong physically, even by vikings' standards (in one of the conversations, Orm admits that Krok's crazy strength far surpassed that of his own or Toke's). When the need arises, he is good at holding speeches to soothe or encourage his crew. Despite as appearing somewhat of a windbag at first, he proves to be honorable and capable as the story goes on.
Olof Summerbird is a young chieftain of one of the three major villages in the borderlands who joins Orm on his quest for Bulgarian Gold. He is very rich and well educated (by the time's standards), having spent much time in the East among the Byzantines. Clever, bold and strong, he falls deeply in love with Orm's daughter, Ludmilla. He eventually marries her after first having rescued her from brigands and subsequently converting to Christianity. Name "summer bird" comes from his custom of wearing rich, colorful clothes.
Salaman is a Jewish silversmith from Andalusia. He also prides himself on being a skilled poet. Krok's men rescue him during their voyage, and later he helps them by getting them out of galley enslavement.
Kings, Princes and Rulers
Harald Bluetooth, King of the Danes. Greedy for gold and women, he is nonetheless a strong and fearsome king.
Sweyn Forkbeard, the son of Bluetooth, who starts a rebellion in which he ultimately defeats his father. He portrayed as brutal and vengeful person.
Eric the Victorious, King of the Swedes. In the book is only mentioned few times, but never seen in action.
Styrbjörn the Strong
is Eric's nephew, who tried to battle his uncle, but was defeated and killed. In the book he is said to be the strongest of warriors, but also ill-fated and prone to depression.
Al-Mansur, the Victorious
, de facto ruler of Moorish Iberia, featured in Book 1. He is portrayed as an old man, ruthless ruler, yet highly religious fearful of Allah.
Ethelred the Unready
, King of England, featured in Book 2. He is portrayed as a good-looking, but not capable of decisive action.
who had wronged him, and who later is instrumental in seeing to it that they become members of the Caliph's guard instead of galley slaves. When Salaman is first introduced to the reader, the Viking who interrogates him and then reports his story to the other Vikings stresses that Christians often persecute Jews and break their word to them because they claim that the Jews killed the Christian God.
Although Skåneland
has been Swedish since 1658, it was firmly Danish for many centuries prior to that year. Accordingly, Orm and his comrades regard themselves as Danes, and are perceived as Danes by everyone else.
The book is written in a strong spirit of tolerance to all religions – pagan, Jewish, Muslim or Christian. Although Orm becomes a Christian, he remains on the best of terms with Toke – a stubborn pagan married to a Muslim wife.
English translations
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
novel written by Frans Gunnar Bengtsson
Frans Gunnar Bengtsson
Frans Gunnar Bengtsson was a Swedish novelist, essayist, poet and biographer. He was born in Tossjö in Skåne and died at Ribbingsfors Manor in northern Västergötland.-Literary career:...
(1894–1954). The novel is divided into two parts, published in 1941 and 1945, with two books each.
It is one of the most widely read books in Sweden, topping the charts of most loaned books at Swedish libraries for many years. The first part was translated to English by Barrows Mussey as Red Orm in 1943, but later editions and newer translations by Michael Meyer
Michael Meyer
Michael Leverson Meyer was an English translator, biographer, journalist and dramatist.-Life:Meyer was born in London into a timber merchant family of Jewish origin, and studied English at Christ Church College, Oxford. His first translation of a Swedish book was the novel The Long Ships by Frans...
use the title The Long Ships.
The book has been translated into at least 23 languages: Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
, Croatian
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
, Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
, Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
, Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
, English, Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
, Estonian
Estonian language
Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
, Faroese
Faroese language
Faroese , is an Insular Nordic language spoken by 48,000 people in the Faroe Islands and about 25,000 Faroese people in Denmark and elsewhere...
, Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
, Icelandic
Icelandic language
Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, Latvian
Latvian language
Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language...
, Lithuanian
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
, Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
, Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, Slovenian
Slovenian language
Slovene or Slovenian is a South Slavic language spoken by approximately 2.5 million speakers worldwide, the majority of whom live in Slovenia. It is the first language of about 1.85 million people and is one of the 23 official and working languages of the European Union...
, Vietnamese
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
.
The language of the novel is modeled on the Norse saga
Norse saga
The sagas are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, the battles that took place during the voyages, about migration to Iceland and of feuds between Icelandic families...
s, making the best of its faculties for wisecracks and comic understatements, and historic names, people and events are woven into the fiction. Like the sagas, the book relies on verbs and nouns to drive the narrative, with only a minimum of adjectives and descriptive passages. In the Swedish original, the grammar is deliberately slightly archaic. Bengtsson might also have had some influence from Eric Linklater
Eric Linklater
Eric Robert Russell Linklater was a British writer, known for more than 20 novels, as well as short stories, travel writing and autobiography, and military history.-Life:...
's The Men of Ness, which book he had translated into Swedish in 1933.
The Swedish writer Sven Stolpe
Sven Stolpe
Sven Stolpe , was a Swedish writer, translator, journalist, literary scholar and critic. He was active in Swedish literary and intellectual discussion for most of his life...
reports that somebody asked author Bengtsson "what intentions he had with The Long Ships." To which Bengtsson responded that he had no particular intentions. "I just wanted to write a story that people could enjoy reading, like The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized in March–July 1844. Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard...
or the Odyssey
Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
."
The 1963 Anglo
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
n movie The Long Ships
The Long Ships (1963 film)
The Long Ships is a 1964 British-Yugoslavian adventure film directed by Jack Cardiff and vaguely based on the Swedish novel The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson. It was intended to capitalise on the success of recent Viking and Moorish dramas such as The Vikings and El Cid, and was later followed...
is loosely based on the book.
Setting
The book is set in the late 10th century and follows the adventures of Orm ("serpent"), called "Red" for his hair (and his temper), a native of ScaniaScania
Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...
. The story portrays the political situation of Europe in the later Viking Age
Viking Age
Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the late 8th to 11th centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...
, Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
under Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir
Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir
Abu Aamir Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Ibn Abi Aamir, Al-Hajib Al-Mansur , better known as Almanzor, was the de facto ruler of Muslim Al-Andalus in the late 10th to early 11th centuries. His rule marked the peak of power for Moorish Iberia.-Origins:He was born Muhammad Ibn Abi Aamir, into a noble Arab...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
under Harold Bluetooth, followed by the struggle between Eric the Victorious and Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark
Sweyn I of Denmark
Sweyn I Forkbeard was king of Denmark and England, as well as parts of Norway. His name appears as Swegen in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and he is also known in English as Svein, Swein, Sven the Dane, and Tuck.He was a Viking leader and the father of Cnut the Great...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
under Brian Boru
Brian Boru
Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig, , , was an Irish king who ended the domination of the High Kingship of Ireland by the Uí Néill. Building on the achievements of his father, Cennétig mac Lorcain, and especially his elder brother, Mathgamain, Brian first made himself King of Munster, then subjugated...
, England under Ethelred the Unready
Ethelred the Unready
Æthelred the Unready, or Æthelred II , was king of England . He was son of King Edgar and Queen Ælfthryth. Æthelred was only about 10 when his half-brother Edward was murdered...
, the Battle of Maldon
Battle of Maldon
The Battle of Maldon took place on 10 August 991 near Maldon beside the River Blackwater in Essex, England, during the reign of Aethelred the Unready. Earl Byrhtnoth and his thegns led the English against a Viking invasion. The battle ended in an Anglo-Saxon defeat...
, all before the backdrop of the gradual Christianisation of Scandinavia, contrasting the pragmatic Norse pagan
Norse paganism
Norse paganism is the religious traditions of the Norsemen, a Germanic people living in the Nordic countries. Norse paganism is therefore a subset of Germanic paganism, which was practiced in the lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes across most of Northern and Central Europe in the Viking Age...
outlook with the exclusiveness of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
.
Plot summary
Book 1The first book covers the years 982 to 990. While still a youth, Orm is taken captive by a Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
party raiding the sheepfold of his father's farm in Skåne after an unprofitable campaign among the Wends
Wends
Wends is a historic name for West Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. It does not refer to a homogeneous people, but to various peoples, tribes or groups depending on where and when it is used...
. The party consists of three ships, some 180 men, led by Krok. Orm is accepted as a crew member and makes a lifelong friend of Toke Greygullson. They sail south, along the coast of the Frankish Empire
Frankish Empire
Francia or Frankia, later also called the Frankish Empire , Frankish Kingdom , Frankish Realm or occasionally Frankland, was the territory inhabited and ruled by the Franks from the 3rd to the 10th century...
. During an encounter with a party of Danes from Jutland
Jutland
Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...
, they collect an escaped prisoner, Solomon, an Andalusian Jew. Solomon guides them to the castle of the Castilian
Kingdom of León
The Kingdom of León was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in AD 910 when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their capital from Oviedo to the city of León...
Margrave who had betrayed him. The Vikings sack the castle and take the spoils to the ships, Solomon returning to his own land. As they sail off, they are attacked and defeated by an Andalusian fleet, and Orm together with Krok and seven others are captured and made slaves.
They serve as galley slaves for more than two years, during which time Orm becomes left-handed (due to his position on the rowing bench), and Krok dies killing their hated supervisor. Thanks to the intervention of Solomon, the surviving eight Norsemen are made members of the slave-bodyguard of Al-Mansur
Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir
Abu Aamir Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Ibn Abi Aamir, Al-Hajib Al-Mansur , better known as Almanzor, was the de facto ruler of Muslim Al-Andalus in the late 10th to early 11th centuries. His rule marked the peak of power for Moorish Iberia.-Origins:He was born Muhammad Ibn Abi Aamir, into a noble Arab...
. They nominally convert to Islam and take part in Al-Mansur's campaigns in the Marca Hispanica
Marca Hispanica
The Marca Hispanica , also known as Spanish March or March of Barcelona was a buffer zone beyond the province of Septimania, created by Charlemagne in 795 as a defensive barrier between the Umayyad Moors of Al-Andalus and the Frankish Kingdom....
for four years. Raiding Iria Flavia
Iria Flavia
Iria Flavia or simply Iria in Galicia, northwestern Spain, was a Celtiberian port, the main seat of the Caporos, on the road between Braga and Astorga. The Romans rebuilt the road as via XVIII or Via Nova and refounded the Celtiberian port as Iria Flavia to complement Vespasian...
, the burial place of St. James
Saint James the Great
James, son of Zebedee was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was a son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of John the Apostle...
, Al-Mansur charges the Norsemen with shipping a captured bell of the Christian church back to Cordova
Córdoba, Spain
-History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...
. On their way back, they encounter and slay the killers of Krok, and are forced to flee Andalusia, taking the bell with them. They cross to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, and learning that Brian Boru
Brian Boru
Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig, , , was an Irish king who ended the domination of the High Kingship of Ireland by the Uí Néill. Building on the achievements of his father, Cennétig mac Lorcain, and especially his elder brother, Mathgamain, Brian first made himself King of Munster, then subjugated...
has gained the upper hand over the Norse there, continue directly to the court of Harold Bluetooth.
Harald has recently converted to Christianity, and they present him with the bell of St. James, upon which Harald invites them to celebrate Yule
Yule
Yule or Yuletide is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic people as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas. The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January...
with him. Both Orm and Toke are wounded in duel
Duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
s during Yule. After convalescence, during which he meets Ylva, daughter of Harold, and presents her with a golden necklace given to him by Al-Mansur, Orm returns to Skåne. Toke runs off with an Andalusian slave-concubine of Harald's and continues back home to Blekinge
Blekinge
' is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden , situated in the south of the country. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea.The name "Blekinge" comes from the adjective bleke, which corresponds to the nautical term for "dead calm"....
. The one-eyed Rapp, another of Orm's companions from Andalusia, stays with him, being an outlaw in his home district.
Book 2
After King Harald dies in exile, and Styrbjörn the Strong
Styrbjörn the Strong
Styrbjörn the Strong was, according to late Norse sagas, the son of the Swedish king Olof, and the nephew of Olof's co-ruler and successor Eric the Victorious, who defeated and killed Styrbjörn at the Battle of Fyrisvellir...
in the Battle of the Fýrisvellir
Battle of the Fýrisvellir
The Battle of Fýrisvellir was a battle for the throne of Sweden which was fought in the 980s on the plain called Fýrisvellir, where modern Uppsala is situated, by Eric the Victorious and his nephew Styrbjörn the Strong...
(moved to 991 in the book, historically probably taking place a few years before), Orm and Rapp join a Viking party raiding England under Thorkell the High
Thorkell the High
Thorkell the Tall, also known as Thorkell the High in the Anglo-Saxon chronicles was a Jomsviking, a son of the Scanian chieftain Strut-Harald, a brother of Jarl Sigvaldi, commander of the Jomvikings and the legendary stronghold, mythical Jomsborg, on the Island of Wollin, while himself a...
, participating in the Battle of Maldon
Battle of Maldon
The Battle of Maldon took place on 10 August 991 near Maldon beside the River Blackwater in Essex, England, during the reign of Aethelred the Unready. Earl Byrhtnoth and his thegns led the English against a Viking invasion. The battle ended in an Anglo-Saxon defeat...
. The Norsemen set siege to the church of Maldon
Maldon, Essex
Maldon is a town on the Blackwater estuary in Essex, England. It is the seat of the Maldon district and starting point of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation.Maldon is twinned with the Dutch town of Cuijk...
, and after negotiation with two English bishops agree to accept payment of Danegeld
Danegeld
The Danegeld was a tax raised to pay tribute to the Viking raiders to save a land from being ravaged. It was called the geld or gafol in eleventh-century sources; the term Danegeld did not appear until the early twelfth century...
. The chieftains agree to be baptized, and travel to London for the occasion. Orm, having learned that Harald's daughter Ylva is staying in London, agrees to be baptised, and Poppo, former bishop of Harald, joins them in Christian matrimony. Orm, Ylva, Rapp and the priest Willibald leave London for Denmark, and collect the necklace Ylva had hidden in Jellinge, now Sweyn's stronghold. Sweyn's men discover them, and fleeing, Willibald wounds Sweyn with a stone throw.
Book 3
Fearing Sweyn's revenge, Orm moves to a neglected farm, his mother's inheritance in Göinge
Göinge
Göinge may refer to:*Östra Göinge Municipality, a municipality in Skåne County*Göinge Eastern Hundred, a hundred in Scania*Göinge Western Hundred, a hundred in Scania*Göinge Mekaniska, one of the leading Swedish steel building companies...
, northern Skåne, near the border with Småland
Småland
' is a historical province in southern Sweden.Småland borders Blekinge, Scania or Skåne, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means Small Lands. . The latinized form Smolandia has been used in other languages...
. During the following years (992 to 995), Orm prospers , and Ylva gives birth to twin girls (Oddny and Ludmilla), a son, Harald, and later to another son, Svarthöfde (Blackhair in the Michael Meyer translation). Orm beats off a treacherous attack sponsored by Sweyn, and Willibald advises against killing the surviving attackers, forcing them to be baptised instead. At the Thing
Thing (assembly)
A thing was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...
between the men of Göinge, Värend
Värend
Värend was in the Middle Ages the most populous of the constituent small lands of the province Småland, in Sweden. Early on, Växjö became its center. Around 1170, Värend broke out of the diocese of Linköping, and formed its own diocese of Växjö...
and Finnveden
Finnveden
Finnveden or Finnheden is one of the ancient small lands of Småland. It corresponded to the hundreds of Sunnerbo Hundred, Östbo Hundred and Västbo Hundred. Finnveden had its own judicial system and laws as the other small lands. Finnveden is situated around lake Bolmen and the river Lagan. Most...
, Orm renews his friendship with Toke, who has gained wealth as a fur trader in Värend. Rainald, a Christian priest who had come to the Thing with Orm to be exchanged for a priest enslaved by the Värenders, disrupts a fertility ceremony, causing the death of a priest of Frey. He is given to the women of Värend as recompense.
Book 4
The year 1000 passes without Christ returning. In 1007, with Orm now forty-two, his brother Are returns from the east, blind, mute and mutilated. He succeeds in telling of his fate with the help of runes
Younger Futhark
The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet, a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, consisting of only 16 characters, in use from ca. 800 CE...
. He had left Skåne in 978 and served in the Varangian guard of Basil II
Basil II
Basil II , known in his time as Basil the Porphyrogenitus and Basil the Young to distinguish him from his ancestor Basil I the Macedonian, was a Byzantine emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.The first part of his long reign was dominated...
. Are participated in raid on a Bulgar
First Bulgarian Empire
The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...
castle at the mouths of the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
with the aim of capturing the gold treasure of the Bulgar king
Samuil of Bulgaria
Samuel was the Emperor of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 980 to 997, he was a general under Roman I of Bulgaria, the second surviving son of Emperor Peter I of Bulgaria, and co-ruled with him, as Roman bestowed upon him the command of the army and the effective royal...
. The emperor's treasurer made away with the gold, heading for Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, and Are pursued him. He managed to recapture the gold and hid it in the Dniepr, at the cataracts south of Kiev, but was later caught and mutilated, and with much luck made his way home to Denmark. Orm decides to travel to Kievan Rus for the gold, and together with Toke and the Värend chieftain Olof (who is promised Orm's daughter Ludmilla upon their return) mans a ship. They travel by way of Visby
Visby
-See also:* Battle of Visby* Gotland University College* List of governors of Gotland County-External links:* - Visby*...
, reaching the Dniepr via the Daugava and Beresina. They find the treasure, but are attacked by Pechenegs, and Orm's son Svarthöfde is captured. Orm pays a high ransom, but enough of the treasure remains to liberally reward his entire crew. They return to Skåne safely, just four days after Orm's farm has been attacked by outlaws, led by the former priest Rainald, who have abducted Ludmilla and other women. Orm heads a punitive expedition
Punitive expedition
A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a state or any group of persons outside the borders of the punishing state. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong behavior, but may be also be a covered revenge...
, the women are freed and Olof slays Rainald. From then on, Orm and Toke live in peace and plenty as good neighbours, and Svarthöfde Ormsson becomes a famous Viking, fighting for Canute the Great
Canute the Great
Cnut the Great , also known as Canute, was a king of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden. Though after the death of his heirs within a decade of his own and the Norman conquest of England in 1066, his legacy was largely lost to history, historian Norman F...
. The story ends with the statement that Orm and Toke in their old age "did never tire of telling of the years when they had rowed the Caliph's ship and served my lord Al-Mansur."
Characters
Orm and his familyOrm (Orm is the Swedish word for Snake) is the protagonist of the book, the youngest son of a rich and high-born freeholder. He is a descendant of King Ivar Vidfamne
Ivar Vidfamne
Ivar Vidfamne was a Danish and Swedish king hailing from Scania. He may have died c. 700. According to the Heimskringla and the Hervarar saga, Ivar was also the king of Norway, Denmark, Saxony and parts of England.- Ivar in the Sagas :He began as king of Scania and conquered Sweden by defeating...
, a fact that he is very proud of. Orm is called "red" for his hair color. At the beginning of book one, he is still in his teens but already strong and dangerous to wrestle with. From the beginning, he shows prowess in battle, and even in his middle age, at the age of 45, he kills two berserks with the handle of a broomstick. He is also clever and resourceful, though a bit of a hypochondriac. His martial prowess is shown in many fight scenes, his astuteness when negotiating for the hand of Ylva in London and also when he participates as one of the judges at the thing
Thing (assembly)
A thing was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...
in Göinge. His ability to make friends is demonstrated in many episodes, beginning with the fact that the raiders who take him prisoner at the beginning of the book soon forget that he is a captive and begin to regard him as a comrade. Orm has a sharp mind and adapts easily, even in difficult situations. As a slave on a Moorish galley, he soon learns Arabic, which proves very useful and is one reason why his comrades begin to regard him as their chief after Krok's death. Orm thinks before acting, but when angered he is very dangerous. He has a dry sense of humor and is gifted in poetry.
Odd is Orm's older brother. Odd is squat, tough and deliberate in speech. He loves sailing and pillaging, and during the winters, he pines for the summer, when it will once more be time to go a-viking. Accordingly, he is in a bad mood during that time of year and often bickers with his mother. When Orm comes back home from Spain, he learns that Odd has died on one of his journeys.
Are is Orm's other brother. In his youth, he made two women pregnant while their husbands were away, which caused a great to-do in the neighbourhood and forced his father to pay out sizeable reparations. Many people laughed at him because of that, which made him moody, and finally he killed one man who had jested too much about his dexterity, after which he fled from home and joined men travelling east. He and Orm meet in Book 4, when Are comes back from Constantinople, blind, tongueless and without his right hand. Despite this obstacle, Orm devises a way for them to communicate and Are tells him the secret of Bulgarian Gold.
Orm's two other brothers, who remain unnamed have suffered tragic fates. One died when he tried to ride a bull after having drunk a surfeit of beer and the other was washed overboard during his first Viking voyage.
Toste is Orm's father. He is a wealthy man and a fine sailor, who would rather die fighting, than "die on straw like a dog". He makes regular summer raids to Ireland. Like Odd, he dies before Orm comes back home from Spain.
Åsa is Orm's mother. She is a strong woman and a diligent housekeeper, but has a fierce temper when crossed. Orm is the apple of her eye, and she spoils him, always ensuring that he gets the best food.
Ylva, King Harald Bluetooth's daughter, is a beautiful young woman, merry but also temperamental and argumentative. She falls in love with Orm, and after many complications they get married.
Ludmilla Ormsdotter is one of Orm's twin daughters, both of whom are redhaired like he. Like her mother, she is playful and adventurous.
Oddny Ormsdotter, the other of Orm's twin daughters. She is, unlike her sister, gentle and calm.
Harald, Orm's son, is named after Ylva's father, Harald Bluetooth. He is a quiet, well-behaved boy, more interested in farming than in adventures abroad.
Svarthöfde (Blackhair) is Orm's second son. He goes with Orm to find the Bulgarian Gold. In Book 3 it is implied that Ylva has slept with the renegade Christian priest Rainald, who like Svarthöfde (and Ylva) has black hair, further implying (though never spelled out) that Rainald is the father of Svarthöfde. He is also described as "his parents' most beloved child". (Two additional children are born to Orm and Ylva after him.) When Orm and Olof get their revenge on Rainald, Svarthöfde assists Olof in killing Rainald. We are told that as a grown man, he entered the service of his cousin King Canute and took part in the battle of Holy River
Battle of the Helgeå
Battle of the Helgeå was a naval engagement which took place during 1026, between joint Danish and English forces and a combined Norwegian and Swedish force, at the estuary of a river called Helgeå in Sweden.King Olaf II of Norway and King Anund Jakob of Sweden took advantage of the commitment...
.
Orm's friends
Toke Greygullson is Orm's best friend. He is not only a fearsome fighter but also has a vivid sense of humor. He is a skilled poet. He is very cheerful and never loses his good spirits; even when enslaved on a galley he composes and sings humorous songs. Occasionally he gets into trouble because he has a weak head for drink. Toke is impulsive and sometimes acts without thinking about the consequences, for example when he elopes with one of King Harald Bluetooth's women, an Andalusian girl named Mirah.
One-eyed Rapp is another friend of Orm's. After their adventures in Spain and England, he lives with him in Göinge as a highly capable overseer (as he "with one eye sees more details than other people with two") at his farm. Rapp is a skilled craftsman (especially in carpentry) and a good fighter (his weapon of choice is often an axe), feared by most men. When Orm tells his ship's company in London that they must all be baptised with him, Rapp calmly assents, having already been baptised once.
Krok is the leader of Vikings that sail out in the beginning of Book One, and he is the one who during the sheep-stealing raid in Skåne knocks Orm unconscious and takes him captive, as a replacement for a member of Krok's crew whom Orm has slain. Krok is killed by guards in Malaga while successfully drowning a brutal overseer in a cauldron of boiling tar. Krok is described as being dark-haired, tan, tall and lanky and unusually strong physically, even by vikings' standards (in one of the conversations, Orm admits that Krok's crazy strength far surpassed that of his own or Toke's). When the need arises, he is good at holding speeches to soothe or encourage his crew. Despite as appearing somewhat of a windbag at first, he proves to be honorable and capable as the story goes on.
Olof Summerbird is a young chieftain of one of the three major villages in the borderlands who joins Orm on his quest for Bulgarian Gold. He is very rich and well educated (by the time's standards), having spent much time in the East among the Byzantines. Clever, bold and strong, he falls deeply in love with Orm's daughter, Ludmilla. He eventually marries her after first having rescued her from brigands and subsequently converting to Christianity. Name "summer bird" comes from his custom of wearing rich, colorful clothes.
Salaman is a Jewish silversmith from Andalusia. He also prides himself on being a skilled poet. Krok's men rescue him during their voyage, and later he helps them by getting them out of galley enslavement.
Kings, Princes and Rulers
Harald Bluetooth, King of the Danes. Greedy for gold and women, he is nonetheless a strong and fearsome king.
Sweyn Forkbeard, the son of Bluetooth, who starts a rebellion in which he ultimately defeats his father. He portrayed as brutal and vengeful person.
Eric the Victorious, King of the Swedes. In the book is only mentioned few times, but never seen in action.
Styrbjörn the Strong
Styrbjörn the Strong
Styrbjörn the Strong was, according to late Norse sagas, the son of the Swedish king Olof, and the nephew of Olof's co-ruler and successor Eric the Victorious, who defeated and killed Styrbjörn at the Battle of Fyrisvellir...
is Eric's nephew, who tried to battle his uncle, but was defeated and killed. In the book he is said to be the strongest of warriors, but also ill-fated and prone to depression.
Al-Mansur, the Victorious
Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir
Abu Aamir Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Ibn Abi Aamir, Al-Hajib Al-Mansur , better known as Almanzor, was the de facto ruler of Muslim Al-Andalus in the late 10th to early 11th centuries. His rule marked the peak of power for Moorish Iberia.-Origins:He was born Muhammad Ibn Abi Aamir, into a noble Arab...
, de facto ruler of Moorish Iberia, featured in Book 1. He is portrayed as an old man, ruthless ruler, yet highly religious fearful of Allah.
Ethelred the Unready
Ethelred the Unready
Æthelred the Unready, or Æthelred II , was king of England . He was son of King Edgar and Queen Ælfthryth. Æthelred was only about 10 when his half-brother Edward was murdered...
, King of England, featured in Book 2. He is portrayed as a good-looking, but not capable of decisive action.
Politics
For a book written in Sweden during the Second World War – when Hitler had admirers in Sweden as well as in most other parts of Europe – there was an obvious political significance to depicting a Jew as the ally and comrade in arms of Vikings, who moreover persuades the Vikings to help him get his revenge on the GentileGentile
The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....
who had wronged him, and who later is instrumental in seeing to it that they become members of the Caliph's guard instead of galley slaves. When Salaman is first introduced to the reader, the Viking who interrogates him and then reports his story to the other Vikings stresses that Christians often persecute Jews and break their word to them because they claim that the Jews killed the Christian God.
Although Skåneland
Skåneland
Skåneland or Skånelandene are terms used in historical contexts in Scandinavia to describe the area on the southern and south-western part of the Scandinavian peninsula, which under the Treaty of Roskilde was transferred from Denmark to Sweden. It corresponds to the provinces of Blekinge,...
has been Swedish since 1658, it was firmly Danish for many centuries prior to that year. Accordingly, Orm and his comrades regard themselves as Danes, and are perceived as Danes by everyone else.
The book is written in a strong spirit of tolerance to all religions – pagan, Jewish, Muslim or Christian. Although Orm becomes a Christian, he remains on the best of terms with Toke – a stubborn pagan married to a Muslim wife.
See also
- Trade route from the Varangians to the GreeksTrade route from the Varangians to the GreeksThe trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks was a trade route that connected Scandinavia, Kievan Rus' and the Byzantine Empire. The route allowed traders along the route to establish a direct prosperous trade with Byzantium, and prompted some of them to settle in the territories of...
(taken by Orm in book 4)
Editions
- Norstedts (1983), ISBN 91-1-791702-6.
English translations
- Red Orm, Barrows Mussey (trans.), C. Scribner's sons (1943).
- The Long Ships : A Saga of the Viking Age, Random House (1954).
- The Long Ships, Michael MeyerMichael MeyerMichael Leverson Meyer was an English translator, biographer, journalist and dramatist.-Life:Meyer was born in London into a timber merchant family of Jewish origin, and studied English at Christ Church College, Oxford. His first translation of a Swedish book was the novel The Long Ships by Frans...
(trans.), Collins (1954), HarperCollins (1984), ISBN 0-00-612609-X.